LNDNnov08.

There are a few things that were on my "to-do-list" before going to work again. Touring Europe with VOGUE and HEARTATTACK radio was my first goal. Vogue has toured Europe for 10 days in september, while HR has toured Europe for 3 weeks in october and november. I was satisfied about both. My next goal was seeing RANCID on their UKtour. As they don't cross Europe anymore since 6 years, I told myself I should make an effort and go the UK to see them. Over the years I've made a few friends in the UK, so I called them if I could stay at their place to see my favorite band. Lucky me, since Fiona from Newport just moved to London and RANCID had three London shows scheduled. The first two sold out before I even knew where to look for tickets. Thanks to Bart BXL I got hold of a ticket for the final show on november 16. I booked Eurostartickets for november 13 and 17 and decided to make the trip all by myself. I still don't understand why no one of my friends, who are all huge Rancid fans, joined me. Anyway, I took my bags, got on that train and left to the UK.

On my first night there Fiona introduced me to the London Party crew, about 20 kids who study/work in London and all hang out at 2 places, her place and "the Plaza". We met at the Plaza and got wasted. After a few hours we left to a local pub to see a band performing, but I blacked out the rest of the night. I woke up feeling sick.

I stayed inside most part of my second day in London. My whole body wasn't feeling to well. After some rest, I decided to go down town on my own and visit some familiar places. One of them is this club called "Punk" in Soho street. Last september I spend a week in London with my best friend Didi, drummer of Losing Streak (rip). We had one of the craziest nights of our life in this club, as Kelly Osbourne, Kate Moss and Lilly Allen all were in that club at the same time as us. Me and didi both got big tattoos done that week as well, which is a reminder of the good times we had that week. I also went to the ASTORIA, the club where Rancid was playing three nights in a row. All three shows were sold out and I couldn't get my hands on a ticket for the first two shows. I decided to walk back to Benthaln Green and walked into three kids I met on the first night at La Plaza.


I asked if I could join them for the night, as they were on their way to a show and they told me it wasn't a problem. So they took me to this show in a district called Angel, which is located near Camden Town. The show wasn't quite what I expected it to be...the room was filled with ArtyFartyLondonFashionKids that were just standing still, watching two kids hit drums and pianos and screaming into the microphone. I guess you must study art to see the "beauty" in bands like these. It got quite funny as we were the outsiders at the show, especially with Jake getting way too drunk and busting out the worst rhymes ever. The reason why they came to this show was that in the headlining band, HIGHER PLACES, the female part of the band was actually quite good looking. Sam and Swift fell in love with her the night before and came to this show just to see her again. I admit, this girl had something special that you could fall in love with easily, but still the music didn't get me going. We left as soon as they finished their set.


The night was still young and these three guys decided I had to see what the London nightlife is like, so they took me out to a club called ASTORIA 2. Jake, who was straight edge for 4 years till 3 weeks ago, was pretty wasted already. Sam, my personal favorite Uk kid, was in a huge partymood and Swift decided to come along as well. Entering the club, they told me this wasn't quite a normal club. They played metal/hardcore/punk/emo/reggea...you name it, they played it. People were actually moshing and skanking like it was a live show, pretty funny. We must have killed a couple of JDbottles all together and jumped into the crowd. Sam totally lost it when they played SLAYER. ("SEX DUNGEONS!MOSH!") At the end of the evening we were hanging out at the backdoor of the club, when suddenly a huge fight broke out. About 30 dudes were punching faces...it was scaring. In london you have to fight like you are out to kill, or you lose. We went to the Plaza and hang out till 6 AM.

Day three woke me up quite lazy as well, so I decided to stay in till 3 PM and then went shopping to Oxford Street. I wasn't the only one who thought shopping was a good idea to kill time, since the tube and streets were full of people. I bought myself a Joe Strummer biography and went back home. Later that night the whole party crew met at La Plaza, which was quite boring I think and then went to a party in Brick Lane. The party was just another ArtyFartySchoolHappening, so I decided to walk back to the sleeping place and go to bed.


Finally the moment had come...SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16,2008...the day I would see Rancid again, after 6 years. The first time I saw them I was only 16 years old and not quite familiar with all their releases. After seeing them live, I became a huge fan.
So I left the house early, to do some more sightseeing and to make sure I was at the venue early. An hour before the doors opened, I got in line next to the venue and starting counting down the minutes. Sigi and his girlfriend joined me half an hour before the doors opened, we were the only belgian kids that night I guess. The opening band sounded really bad and luckily finished their set fast. Last resort was up next but didn't catch my attention as well. I was there to see Rancid. Thirty minutes to go, we took place in the middle of the room. Everyone was getting nervous...we were about to see one of the best punkbands alive, in my opinion THE best one alive. Five minutes to go, the lights went out. People scream, hands clap.
BAM. There they are: Lars, Tim and Matt. Legends. The crowd goes crazy. My throat gets dry, I can't believe I'm there. Then Tim steps to his mic and starts with the words "Never fell in love...". Are you kiddin me? They open with RADIO, my favorite Rancid song ever! Tears come to the corners of my eyes, this must be one of the craziest moments of my life. I'm in London, whole by myself, Rancid is in front of me playing Radio. Music doesn't get any better than this. The crowd goes insane, sings along, dances, sweats...Song after song...hit after hit. This IS the best show I've ever been to. Minutes go by way to fast. Another breathtaking moment was Lars being alone on stage and singing The War's end...the song opens with the line "Lil' Sammy was a punkrocker"...it kinda felt like "my song" that night. They did one encore, think it was Ruby Soho and then it was over. They went of stage and the crowd was left with just the memory of what they just had witnessed.


I walked home, had some Doner and went to bed. I couldn't sleep. The whole show was playing in my head. Took my bags the next morning and got on the train home. The lonely train home. I spent my last money to see my favorite band. It was sure worth every cent.